Jurors hear defense attorneys' arguments in trial of former Bell mayor, council members

LOS ANGELES - Defense attorneys urged jurors today to acquit a former Bell mayor and three ex-city council members of charges that they misappropriated funds by collecting exorbitant salaries, with one lawyer saying they "deserved the money they got."

Attorneys for former Mayor Oscar Hernandez, former councilmen Luis Artiga, Victor Bello and George Mirabal told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the four, who are charged along with former council members George Cole and Teresa Jacobo.

Deputy District Attorney Edward Miller countered in his rebuttal argument that the defendants "gave themselves these illegal raises," noting that they are charged with "taking salaries that weren't authorized by law" and not with "making too much money."

Jurors are expected to get the case Friday after hearing the remainder of the prosecution's rebuttal argument and getting their final instructions from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy.

Hernandez, 65, Jacobo, 55, and Mirabal, 63, are each charged with 20 counts of misappropriating public funds between January 2006 and July 2010.

Bello, 54, is charged with 16 counts of misappropriation between January 2006 and December 2009, while Artiga, 52, is charged with 12 counts of misappropriation between January 2008 and July 2010 and Cole, 63, is charged with eight counts of misappropriation between January 2006 and December 2007.

"I think the acquittals here should be across the board," Mirabal's attorney, Alex Kessel, told the seven-woman, five-man jury in his closing argument.

The defense lawyer said the prosecution had "developed from theories that aren't borne out in the evidence," and said he did not believe the government could show that there was no legal authority for their salaries.

"He can't show any of these defendants have been lazy, neglectful ... Every one of these people have earned the money that they legally obtained ...," Kessel said. "They deserved the money they got. This is not a product of stealing from the city."

Mirabal's attorney said jurors would never have to go back to question if the city council members earned their salaries.

"You don't have a bunch of crooks over there ... Dispel yourself of that notion that they're all dirty over there," he said of the city of Bell, noting that former City Manager Robert Rizzo "is not on trial here."

Rizzo is awaiting trial separately along with former assistant Angela Spaccia on corruption-related charges.

In his rebuttal argument, the prosecutor countered that "the evidence of guilt in this case is overwhelming," telling jurors that the council members' salaries eventually rose to $100,000 a year.

Miller contended that the defendants were paid illegal salaries for sitting on four boards -- the Community Housing Authority, Surplus Property Authority, Public Financing Authority and Solid Waste and Recycling Authority.

He maintained that service on those boards was part of their work as a city council member.

"I told you they wore different hats. They were still city council members when they were on these boards," the prosecutor said. "It was part and parcel of your duties as a city council member."

Earlier in the day, Hernandez's attorney, Stanley Friedman, said the council members "did a lot more" than kissing babies, shaking hands and cutting ribbons.

The defense lawyer showed jurors a list that included the names of the city attorney, city clerk, the city's auditing firm, police chief and city engineer, and said none of them told Hernandez that the council members' salaries were illegal.

"Nobody thought the salaries were illegal ... He didn't think it was illegal. Nobody did," Friedman told the seven-woman, five-man panel. "It certainly wasn't criminally negligent for him to rely on the advice of (then City Attorney) Ed Lee."

Artiga's attorney, George Mgdesyan, said the prosecution had not even gotten close to proving its case.

"This case is full of holes and speculation against my client," he told jurors, describing Artiga as "working hard every day" at a post he thought was a full-time job.

"He's being prosecuted for receiving money that he worked hard for," Mgdesyan said.

Artiga's attorney said his client had been on the council for less than two years and didn't vote on his salary.

"What was my client supposed to do? Did he have a right to presume it was lawful?" Artiga's attorney asked jurors, telling them that his client had been "falsely accused" and that his reputation had been "tarnished" as a result of the charges.

Bello's attorney, Leo Moriarty, told jurors that they would be acting as a bridge over troubled waters for his client, referring to the troubled waters as "the criminal prosecution in this matter."

"The prosecution's case is an imaginary evil. It's an evil that doesn't exist," he said, telling jurors that there was "nothing of substance" in the government's case.

Moriarty said the prosecutor's characterization of Bello being "nothing more than a charlatan" and a man who was paid $100,000 a year to work at the city's food bank after leaving the council was "absolutely contrary to what Mr. Bello is and was."

He said the six defendants had "done nothing wrong to justify them being here today," and "were not just paid to be at the city council meetings."

Bello's attorney called his client "totally innocent," saying it was "not a matter of the city of Bell defendants here thinking they were above the law" as the prosecution contends.

In closing arguments Wednesday, attorneys for Jacobo and Cole maintained that their clients relied on the city attorney and an independent auditor who never questioned their salaries, and said the defendants honestly believed the money reflected a reasonable amount given the time they spent doing city work.

Cole's attorney, Ronald Kaye, noted that his client stopped taking a city salary in 2007.

Jacobo's lawyer, Shepard Kopp, told jurors that "the prosecution has utterly failed to show that the payments received were made without legal authority."

Jacobo, Mirabal and Cole testified in their own defense during the trial, insisting in part that they were paid in accordance with the amount of work they performed for the city.

In his closing argument Wednesday, the prosecutor told jurors that the six gouged taxpayers by collecting "outrageous salaries" for serving on various city agencies that barely met. "There was no authority of law for these outrageous salaries the defendants paid themselves," the deputy district attorney told jurors. "... There's none, zip."

"The defendants in this case believed they were above the law and carried out their duties with a criminal disregard ...," Miller said. "This was a city turned upside down by a culture of corruption."